Biodiversity - Ecosystem Function Relationships in Southern African
Woodlands
I am investigating patterns of tree species diversity and their
relationship with ecosystem structure and function in southern African
woodlands. I use large datasets from the SEOSAW project extensively to
answer macro-ecological questions. I also utilise the SEOSAW plot
network infrastructure to conduct my own measurements of woodland canopy
structure using Terrestrial LiDAR technology. Most recently I have
conducted a regional scale study of the interacting functional
mechanisms which relate tree species diversity to woody biomass across
multiple environmental gradients, using measurements from the SEOSAW
plot network.
Sep 2012 - Jun 2016
BSc Hons: Ecological and Environmental Sciences - 1st Class
Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington, County Durham
Research & Outreach Grants
- Feb 2019 - Davis Expedition Fund - £4000 - Tanzania research
expedition funding
- Jun 2018 - NERC bursary - £980 - Applied Plant Taxonomy and Field
Survey Skills course at Kew Gardens
- May 2018 - Principals Go Abroad Fund - £350 - Mozambique SEOSAW
Network Meeting funding
- Feb 2018 - School of GeoSciences Facilities Committee - Research
Equipment Grant - £2810 - Camera equipment for hemispherical tree
canopy photography
- Nov 2017 - James Rennie Bequest - £170 - Costs for British
Ecological Society Coding Club Workshop
- Nov 2017 - Centenary Agroforestry 89 Fund - £984 - Angola research
expedition funding
- Nov 2017 - British Ecological Society - Small Grant - £1500 -
Funding to run Scottish Tropical Ecology and Biology Student Meeting
- Nov 2017 - Institute for Academic Development - Action Fund Small
Grant - £470 - Funding to run Scottish Tropical Ecology and Biology
Student Meeting
- Mar 2016 - Royal Society of Biology - Travel Grant - £500 - Canadian
Arctic research expedition funding
- Dec 2015 - Friends of Roslin Glen - Outreach Fund - £900 - Landscape
history panel funding
- Nov 2015 - Lothian Conservation Volunteers - Outreach Fund - £500 -
Landscape history panel funding
- May 2015 - Principal’s Go Abroad Fund - £350 - Peruvian Andes
research expedition funding
- Apr 2015 - British Travel Association Fund - £1000 - Peruvian Andes
research expedition funding
Awards
- 2019 - Edinburgh Teaching award
- Completed a programme aiming to improve teaching skills for
higher education. Worked with a mentor over the course of an
academic year to produce a series of reflective essays, drawing
on pedagogical literature and teaching experiences. As part of
the award I was inducted as an Associate Fellow of the Higher
Education Academy.
- 2017 - SEECC Conference - Best Long Presentation
- Best 15 minute talk from a group of 24 at the Scottish Ecology,
Environment and Conservation Conference, hosted by the
University of Aberdeen. The talk presented research on forest
structure and climate induced range shifts.
- 2017 - STEB Conference - Best Presentation
- Best 15 minute talk from a group of 13 at the Scottish Tropical
Ecology and Biology Student Meeting, hosted by the University of
Stirling. The talk presented research on tree species
competition interactions and climate induced range shifts.
- 2015 - Edinburgh Award
- Professional development course at the University of Edinburgh.
Attended seminars on professional skills: public speaking,
academic writing and leadership. Conducted self-evaluation over
the course of one year.
Manuscripts and Published Work
- Godlee J. L., … - Tree diversity and woodland structure in Bicuar
National Park, Angola.
- In preparation - Diversity - January 2020
- Invited contribution to special issue: Biodiversity of
Vegetation and Flora in Tropical Africa
- Godlee J. L., … - Variation in forest canopy structure along an
Andean elevation gradient causes species-specific stress responses
in tree seedlings
- In preparation - Plant Biology - April 2020
- Godlee J. L., … - Geographically and genetically distinct
populations of scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) differ in resistance to
damage by the large pine weevil (Hylobius abietis): a common garden
translocation study
- In preparation - Forest Ecology and Management - April 2020
- Rowland, L. … Godlee J. L. - Drought stress and tree size determine
stem CO₂ efflux in a tropical forest
- New Phytologist - 2018
- Daskalova, G. N. … Godlee J. L. - All is not decline across global
vertebrate populations
- bioRxiv - 2018
Research vision
As I progressed through my undergraduate degree in Ecological and
Environmental Sciences I developed a keen interest in whole ecosystem
responses to environmental gradients, with a particular focus on tree
competition and physiognomy as mechanisms which determine ecosystem
function. I pursued this interest through my undergraduate dissertation
for which I conducted a 56 day field campaign, studying competition
interactions and eco-physiological traits in tree seedlings in the
Peruvian Andes. This field work, along with four other notable periods
of employment as a research assistant in the Brazilian Amazon, the
Canadian Arctic, The Republic of Congo and the Scottish lowlands made me
proficient in undertaking logistically challenging field-based science.
During these short research contracts I have formed ideas about the
development of novel methodologies in community ecology. Particularly, I
am interested in using emerging technologies to answer ecological
questions that have in the past relied on subjective and highly
uncertain data. I have pursued many of my interests through my current
PhD programme, in which I am using terrestrial LiDAR and the large
SEOSAW plot network dataset to answer questions about the relationship
between tree species diversity and ecosystem structure in southern
African woodlands. I continue to conduct ambitious field campaigns
combined with powerful statistical techniques to distill complex
ecological data down to its basic mechanisms.
I support the development of effective teaching in higher education. In
2019 I completed the Edinburgh Teaching Award, a programme encouraging
self-evaluation and consideration of pedagogical technique. Since
October 2016 I have worked with a colleague to develop “Coding Club” a
supportive peer network for learning statistical programming at the
University of Edinburgh. In the future I hope to forge an academic
career in a university as I enjoy researching alongside other academics,
sharing knowledge for the greater good, and writing robust
inter-disciplinary science.
Academic & Research Experience
- May-Jun 2017 - Fieldwork co-ordinator - University of Edinburgh -
Dr. Edward Mitchard
- Managed the fieldwork season of a long term experiment in
collaboration with the US Forest Service, the Wildlife
Conservation Society and Paula Nieto-Quintano, a PhD student at
the University of Edinburgh. Fieldwork was conducted in the
remote and logistically challenging Bateke Plateau region of The
Republic of Congo. I supervised the work of three students from
Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville for three weeks. I also
co-ordinated the work of 8-10 maintenance workers responsible
for creating firebreaks around field sites. Fieldwork involved
full growth and mortality tree censuses in 25 ha plots, followed
by controlled burning of the plots.
- Sep-Dec 2016 - Research assistant - University of Exeter - Dr. Lucy
Rowland
- Part of an 8 person research team with 6 weeks fieldwork at the
Caxiuanã Esecaflor drought experiment. Extensive work with
Li-COR 6400XT Portable Photosynthesis System, collection and
subsequent analysis of leaf traits. Lab-work at the University
of Exeter included use of CAN-EYE Leaf Area Index analysis
software and developing a method for the analysis of foliar
fungal infections from scanned leaf images. In Exeter I also
worked with a large time series dataset of leaf traits collected
a 10 year period to analyse the effects of experimentally
induced drought on canopy tree growth and photosynthetic
capacity.
- Mar-Aug 2016 - Field assistant - University of Edinburgh - Dr. Isla
Myers-Smith
- Part of a 4 person field team with 2 months fieldwork at Kluane
Lake Research Station and Herschel Island (Qikiqtaruk) in the
Yukon Territory, Canada. I conducted an experiment investigating
elevation-dependent patterns of seed herbivory, the data from
which form part of a larger latitudinal study. Other work
included the collection of a multitude of plant traits,
ecological monitoring of vegetation cover, and investigating
soil decomposition rates following the protocol of the
International Tea Bag Index (www.decolab.org/tbi).
- Jul-Sep 2015 - Field and lab assistant - University of Edinburgh -
Dr. Pippa Stone
- Part of a 5 person field team for 2 months in Manú National
Park, Peru. Work included physiological and morphological
measurements of seedling and adult tree species both in the
field and in rudimentary field laboratories, as well as
competition measurements for which I designed and executed the
methodology. Experience using a MINIPAM-II portable chlorophyll
fluorescence meter.
- May-Dec 2015 - Research assistant and data analyst - Centre for
Ecology & Hydrology - Dr. Stephen Cavers
- Research assistant and data analyst for a common garden
experiment investigating differentiation in Scots Pine seed
stock in terms of growth, phenology and environmental
resistance. I designed and conducted a study which investigated
the resistance of tree seedlings to damage by pine weevils, an
economically important pest of Scot’s pine in Scotland. In 2019
I prepared a manuscript to be submitted in 2020 for peer-review
related to the findings of the experiment.
Teaching & Outreach Experience
- Sep 2018, 2019 - Field demonstrator for Ecological and Environmental
Sciences field course
- I taught groups of 4th year undergraduate students on a week
long field course in near Oban, Scotland. I designed a group
research project and mentored a small group of 5 students in
their experimental design, data collection and analysis. I also
ran optional clinics on the operation of hemispherical
photography equipment for measuring tree canopy structure.
- Oct 2017-Present - Web developer for SEOSAW
- I designed and currently maintain the website for the SEOSAW
network (Socio-ecological Observatory for Southern African
Woodlands), using Jekyll, Bitbucket Pipelines, and Github-Pages.
Notably, I implemented an interactive Javascript leaflet map of
study sites, using geoJSON data compiled from the SEOSAW dataset
using R. (seosaw.github.io).
- Jan 2017-May 2019 - Copywriter for Agricology sustainable farming
magazine
- Part of a team of seven, writing summaries of online resources
on the Agricology website. I write approximately two articles
per month when requested, with a particular focus on soil
enrichment and pollinator services. This work has given me
valuable experience in writing for an informed but non-academic
audience, as the websites target audience is farmers.
Additionally, I have gained experience in working remotely,
taking advantage of version control software for effective
editing. (agricology.co.uk).
- Oct 2016-Dec 2018 - Co-founder, tutorial designer, tutor for coding
proficiency initiative (Coding Club) - University of Edinburgh
- Founding member of team which set up a peer-to-peer learning
environment for students and staff to overcome statistics
anxiety and provide training in useful programming skills for
the biological and environmental sciences. Key duties include
creating online tutorials using Markdown and HTML, delivering
tutorials to classes of up to 30 students/staff. Focusses
include Shiny Web-Applications, hierarchical modelling,
reproducible research using R Markdown. In 2017, Coding Club ran
a workshop at the SEECC conference in Aberdeen on manipulating
big data, attended by ~25 people. In December 2017, Coding Club
delivered a workshop at the British Ecology Society Annual
Meeting in Ghent. (ourcodingclub.github.io).
- Sep 2015-Apr 2016 - Interpretation resources designer - Midlothian
Ranger Service
- I designed an interpretation panel to be installed in Roslin
Glen, a Midlothian Country Park. The panel demonstrates the
historical land use of the glen and the resulting landscape
features. I also designed a series of factsheets for use in
secondary schools and a QR code walking route with more
information. I presented to Lothian Conservation Volunteers and
Friends of Roslin Glen to secure £1400 to manufacture the
product and procure licenses.
Academic Service Positions
- Mar 2018 - Organiser of the Scottish Tropical Ecology and Biology
Student Meeting
- Along with two others, I led organisation of this small 1 day
conference hosted by the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh and the
University of Edinburgh. The conference was attended by ~50
people, with 17 speakers and a midday skills workshop on
creating effective academic posters. Together we secured in
excess of £1500 of funding from the British Ecological Society,
the University of Edinburgh Institute for Academic Development
and the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh.
- Sep 2013-Jul 2016 - Ecological and Environmental Sciences Student
Representative
- Year wide representative for degree programme. Acted as a
liaison for student issues with staff, course content,
deadlines, pastoral care.
- Sep 2015-Jul 2016 - School of GeoSciences Convener
- Elected student association position at Edinburgh University
Student’s Association, representing the School of GeoSciences at
Student Council and various other committees including the
architectural board for the construction of a new GeoSciences
faculty building. Skills developed in project planning,
effective representation, creative problem solving, committee
chairing.
- 2013-2016 - Project Co-ordinator, Edinburgh University Conservation
Volunteers
- Liaison with Park Rangers and shared responsibilities with one
other society co-ordinator to organise and direct group
excursions for between 10 and 40 students, weekly during the
university semester. Developed skills in logistics, team
supervision. More practical skills in forestry, wooden
construction, tool maintenance. Organisation of weekend
residential excursions including cooking, transport and
accommodation for up to 30 people.
Quantitative and Programming Skills
- R - Generalised linear mixed effects models using lme4/nlme and
model selection using MuMIn. Structural Equation Modelling with
lavaan and semPlot. Manipulation of large datasets using dplyr,
including the Living Planet Index and GBIF databases. Batch data
manipulation and analysis using the apply family. Spatial grid
analysis using the spatstat package. Data presentation and analysis
using the ggplot2 package. Experience using R Markdown to produce
reproducible scripts and knowledge of creating Shiny HTML5 web-apps.
- QGIS - Experience creating maps for publication and using GDAL both
within QGIS and directly on the command line to manipulate and
transform spatial data files. Integration of QGIS with online
spatial databases such as SentinelHub and OpenLayers.
- LaTeX - Experience constructing short and long documents with
tabular and graphical elements for myself and others. Integration of
citation management software, custom BibTeX .bib files and
templating with custom .sty files. Creating custom Beamer
presentation templates.
- Git - Experience managing ourcodingclub.github.io and teaching
resources using Git version control, branch management with multiple
collaborators, closing issues, troubleshooting with git diff. In
2018 I ran two workshops at the University of Edinburgh on using Git
on the command line.
- Markdown - Tutorials written and delivered using Markdown syntax,
integration of R, LaTeX, HTML and CSS languages in Markdown
documents.
- ImageJ - Advanced knowledge of area and colour threshold analysis
using the ImageJ Macro Language.
Professional Associations
- Botanical Society of Scotland (Student Member)
- Royal Society of Biology (Affiliate Member)
- British Ecological Society (Student Member)
- Royal Scottish Geographical Society
